


I'm Just Someone, Who You Don't Know

by Maraculate



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Squip, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, I Tried, Jeremy Heere Is a Furry, Light Angst, M/M, New Student, Not my best, Overall A Good Time, Pure, Shyness, Strangers to Friends, They did ecstasy at the school play, Vitiligo!Michael, but it's not bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 09:23:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16015016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maraculate/pseuds/Maraculate
Summary: "One small act of kindness can change someone's entire life."Yeah it's cheesy as fuck but so is this story so if that's not what you want then leave.





	I'm Just Someone, Who You Don't Know

**Author's Note:**

> Idk why I love stranger stories they're just great.

  * Michael had six friends.



 

Jenna, the smartest of the group. She knew everything about everyone, and Michael made it his business to know Jenna’s business. That was the first time he made a genuine connection with someone at Middleborough.

 

Brooke, the kindest of the group. She saw Michael as the little brother she never had and even her parents agreed. He had a key to her house in case he needed to escape for a night. Brooke had been teaching him gymnastics since the middle of junior year.

 

Chloe, the boldest of the group. She tolerated everyone in their grade except for Madeline Ceres. Turns out they were cousins. Like those girls from ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’ or something. That sort of explained the disgust. She liked Michael enough, and he let her practice makeup on him to prepare for the play. She took makeup very seriously. She was the boldest because she let everyone who ticked her off had a piece of her mind unless it was a teacher or something.

 

Jake, the dumbest of the group… that’s it.

 

Rich, the most eccentric of the group. He was short and used to bully Michael, but they made up. Well, ‘made up’ was loosely used. Michael slowly accepted his presence around his new friends and decided to just let it go. Rich busted his ass to be nice to Michael and to apologize which included sewing him a hoodie for his birthday. He had to admit that it was probably what turned the tide.

 

And he was just kidding with Jake, by the way. He was the funniest of the group. Despite the previous racist remarks about Mexicans even though Michael was Filipino (he didn’t do those anymore, at least. Like with Rich, he slowly accepted him again and let it go), he was quick witted when it came to jokes. Easing the tension for Jake was as familiar to him as the back of his hand. Of course, he would drop him like a hot potato if Jake talked about Michael and taco trucks in the same sentence.

 

And last, but definitely not least, Christine, who was kind of a mix of everyone plus being super liberal and loving play. Well, he said super liberal like she preached her beliefs to everyone, but she only got that way when someone was debating politics with her. Whatever she did, she put her passion into. And she was smart enough to develop her arguments and even change Dustin Kropp’s political alignment after she thoroughly trashed him.

 

So that made Christine the most complex of their group. Everyone else was kind of onenote as far as Michael knew. Well, not Brooke. People thought of her as a party blonde and kind of like a pre-law school Elle Woods, basically. She had a lot of insecurities and hated being compared to Chloe and other girls all the time. Sometimes, Michael would just pull Brooke into a hug (Brooke said he gave the best hugs since he was soft. Weird statement) and she would just break down for a few minutes before wiping her eyes, apologizing (Michael never accepted her apologies. Nothing to apologize for), and asking if he wanted dinner.

 

And, right, Jenna had a lot of restrained emotions to go through. The phone calls at three in the morning were proof of that.

 

...

 

Maybe he should retract that previous statement about his friends being one-note. Just because they didn’t show every ugly part of themself didn’t mean that their life wasn’t complex and confusing.

 

Anyway, Michael had six friends. That was as true as the grass was green.

 

Now, with Brooke being more observant than most (i.e. Rich), she was the one to point out the solitary boy at the far right cafeteria table. He had headphones in, a book in hand called Be More Chill, and an empty lunch tray in front of him.

 

His eyes glazed over the page like he read it a million times. Or like it was simplistic. His wild brown locks bobbed a bit whenever he moved his head or put his water bottle to his mouth. He put his hand on his cheek and tuned out the world around him so he could focus on the world within the archaic pages. His face was covered in freckles, acne scars, and damaged skin.

 

Well, not as damaged as Michael’s, but it was whatever. He was pretty sure Vitiligo was an exception since he had, you know, no control of it. It scattered itself across his arms and body, but it didn't cover a lot of his face. There were a few discolored pieces of hair and skin that made it obvious that something was wrong, but it could've been worse.

 

Back to his eyes, they sometimes brightened with a vivacity only seen in Christine or dulled to a pale color that put moss to shame.

 

“New guy?” Rich squinted at him. The short dude did mention that he was probably going to need glasses.

 

“I guess,” Brooke answered. “I’ve never seen him. Jenna?”

 

“Huh?” Jenna’s head snapped up from her phone.

 

“The new boy.”

 

“Oh. He has no social media or anything. No photos of him anywhere,” Jenna answered. Michael expected Jenna to be more interested in the new student, especially since he had no online presence.

 

“I’m gonna-” Michael started to offer.

 

“Don’t bother. Other people tried to play welcoming student to earn brownie points with the teachers. Even if you want to get to know him, he’ll probably assume that you’ll be using him,” Jenna cut him off.

 

“I feel bad, though.”

 

“Try, then."

 

Michael bit his lip and removed his backpack. He sat across from the new boy. He looked up, a confused yet mildly interested look on his face. After a few seconds of calmly tense staring, he removed his headphones.

 

“Hi, I’m Michael.”

 

“Jeremy.”

 

“I like your Apocalypse of the Damned shirt,” he said. Jeremy’s eyes widened for a half second and he pulled his cardigan slightly to hide it.

 

“Cool.”

 

“Do you like Middleborough?” Michael tried a different approach.

 

“Sure.”

 

Obviously, Michael wasn’t going to get more than one word answers from him if he didn’t have to.

 

“Why did you hide your shirt?” Michael asked. “I like the game, dude.”

 

“The- nevermind,” Jeremy said. He picked up his things and hurriedly put his earphones back in. Jeremy knocked over his book and Michael handed it to him. He stared at him for a half second and snatched the book, holding it under his arm.

 

Michael just looked at him with pity in his eyes. Poor guy.

 

A few periods later, Michael saw Jeremy speed-walk out of the school.

 

“He didn’t exactly reject my presence.”

 

“He’s just painfully shy, then,” Jake said.

 

“Has to be,” Chloe agreed. Wow, they agreed on something? It must’ve been correct, then.

 

“Should I try talking to him?” Brooke asked.

 

“Nah. He’ll be more intimidated since anyone can tell you’re popular.” Jenna shook her head.

 

“Just being relatively popular-"

 

“Definitely popular."

 

“Relatively-” Brooke stressed the word. Did she really not understand that she had influence in the school? “Popular doesn’t make me scary. Let me try getting to know him tomorrow!”

 

“Fine, let me help then,” Michael said.

 

They went to Michael’s house and Michael educated Brooke on as much Legend of Zelda as he could. He decided to just stick with Breath of the Wild info since while he did see the triforce on Jeremy’s backpack, there was no way he could fit the Zelda timeline into Brooke’s head in one night.

 

“I honestly feel bad for him. Like, I just want to be nice, yaknow?” Brooke slapped her legs.

 

“I’m sure he won’t shut you off. You’re pretty stubborn,” Michael teased. She pushed him back onto his beanbag and he cackled from it.

 

“Alright, let’s play Street Fighter. Teach me the super moves.”

 

“Alright, alright. You know, if Zelda doesn’t work, you could try talking to him about Street Fighter.”

 

“Maybe."

 

After the night passed and the day came once again, Jeremy was sitting alone. He was reading a new book called ‘The Practical Guide To Evil’ and concentration was injected in his face.

 

Brooke sat across from him, and Jeremy took out his earphones.

 

“Hi. I’m Brooke.”

 

“I know."

 

That was surprisingly curt. Brooke wasn’t offended, though. She had experience with socially awkward people.

 

“I noticed the triforce on your bag. I’m not an avid player, but I liked Breath of the Wild,” Brooke said.

 

“Oh.” Jeremy twiddled his thumbs after putting the book down. He quickly grabbed a chicken finger and bit into it.

 

“Do you like more of the games?"

 

“Yeah…"

 

“Like what?”

 

“Uh… Ocarina of Time?”

 

Brooke took the three word answer as a win.

 

“Do you want to tell me about it? I like listening to this stuff. My friend, Michael, goes on tangents all the time. He knows more about this stuff than I do, though. So if you’re looking for a more- I’m talking too much. You look like you have something you want to say.”

 

The bell rang and Jeremy left. Brooke let the neutral expression drop after he was gone.

 

“Damnit!” She finally said.

 

“How did it go?” Michael asked.

 

“He said he liked Ocarina of Time. It was a sentence!” Brooke slapped the table. “Not my greatest coaxing of information.”

 

“Don’t say it like that.”

 

“Right, right. This guy is painfully shy. But he’s kinda cute.”

 

“Hey, I want dibs,” Michael replied before shutting his mouth. “Crap."

 

“Oh my God, you guys would be so cute!” Brooke squealed. Shit, he brought out the shipper in Brooke.

 

“Please don’t tell them.”

 

“Fine, but you’ve got to try twice as hard to get to know him. At least, without being a pest.”

 

“Tomorrow, then.”

 

At the cafeteria the next day, Jeremy didn’t show up at his seat. Michael didn’t look for him, but he was a bit worried since he saw Jeremy earlier.

 

The day after that, Michael looked for him.

 

Eventually, he had to take a bathroom break and he knocked on the only stall in the boy’s bathroom. Goddamned public schools.

 

“Occupied,” a flat tone answered.

 

“Sorry, Jeremy.”

 

Michael heard him inaudibly inhale. He stood up about two minutes later, opened the stall, and went to the sink while shrinking in on himself.

 

“Are you alright?” Michael asked.

 

Jeremy stopped. “No.”

 

“Is it because of me?”

 

Jeremy hesitated. “Just… you don’t have to fake anything, okay?” His voice was strained and it almost sounded painful to talk for him.

 

He ran out the door, leaving a very confused and concerned Michael behind.

 

The next day, a Friday, Jeremy sat in the hallway in front of his locker. He had the same book from before and his headphones in again.

 

Michael’s locker was nearby, so he opened it and expected Jeremy to look over. He didn’t.

 

In the end, Michael stopped playing coy and tapped his shoulder. Jeremy flinched and Michael pulled his hand away.

 

“Michael?”

 

“I’m not faking anything, dude.”

 

“I’m sorry.” Jeremy quickly put his headphones back in and buried his face in the book.

 

“Jeremy, come on. I’m not trying to be mean, I swear.”

 

His fingers shook.

 

“Jeremy, I swear, I just want to be your friend."

 

“And why in the HELL-” Jeremy raised his voice. He widened his eyes before clamping his mouth shut again and scrambling to get away.

 

Michael sighed, trailed behind him silently, and saw him facepalm in an empty hallway, his headphones in his pocket.

 

“Jeremy ‘self-destruct’ Heere makes an entrance? Yeah, he does." He punched a wall and then hissed in pain.

 

Michael stood like a statue for a few moments. He ultimately decided to keep trying.

 

The weekend passed, and Michael saw Jeremy walking in the rain. He had an umbrella up, yet he looked absolutely miserable in the fifty degree weather.

 

“Get in!” Michael stopped next to him. Jeremy widened his eyes for a heartbeat before taking a few hesitant steps forward. He opened the door and stuck his umbrella out and closed it and then closed the door.

 

“You were going to walk in this nasty shit?” Michael scoffed.

 

“Yes.”

 

Jeremy looked down. Michael turned up the heating for him.

 

“Don’t get frostbite, hot stuff,” Michael flirted off-handedly. Jeremy spluttered and turned to open the door before Michael could drive. The ladder saw and started driving. Jeremy just stared out the window, his eyes never meeting Michael’s as he jogged inside the school.

 

Maybe that was the wrong thing to say.

 

Later, Michael opened a note that fell out of his locker.

 

‘Thank you.’ -J

 

Michael grinned.

 

The next day, the weather was slightly better. He didn’t see Jeremy on the road, so he just drove off to school and went through the first half of the day half-dead. English and Math just ran over his head and he wanted to be literally anywhere else since he was already in Hell. At the first half of lunch, he found and empty table, put on his headphones, and put his head in his arms.

 

But later, he looked up and saw a caramel latte from Quickchek next to his arms. It had caramel and whipped cream in it. Whose was that?

 

Oh, wait, there was a note.

 

‘Thought you could use a boost.’ -B

 

Michael chuckled and sipped the straw. He had to thank Brooke later, but he lowkey wanted it to be from Jeremy. No, not lowkey, highkey. He liked Jeremy. The boy was cute, and he really wanted to get to know him better.

 

It was just really hard.

 

Second Tuesday of the year, Michael found a paper crane in his backpack.

 

It was pink, and it had little pencil eyes. It was really cute, but who made it?

 

Second Wednesday of the year, Michael found two paper cranes in his locker. One was blue and the other was red.

 

“Do I have to set up a camera in my locker?” Michael murmured. He fished out an old camera with one of this mini flip screen things. He put it in his locker and turned it on. Maybe the culprit would put in more cranes later?

 

Fast forward to the end of the day, Michael sped through the footage. A few minutes before the last bell, a familiar head of brown curls and bright green eyes put three more cranes in his locker.

 

“This is stupid,” he muttered.

 

Michael had to agree.

 

Second Thursday, Michael found Jeremy during lunch.

 

“I think your cranes are cute.”

 

Jeremy dropped his burger. He made a break for it, but Michael grabbed his hand and stopped him.

 

“It’s not a bad thing! I just want to know why,” Michael quickly said. Jeremy’s arm fell to his side and he just looked down and took a few defensive steps back.

 

“Brooke said that… you like art. So I… Yeah.”

 

Jeremy sped out of the cafeteria.

 

Michael went to their lunch table and pulled Brooke to the side.

 

“Why is Jeremy giving me cranes?” Michael hissed. He didn’t want to read too far into the potentially innocuous action.

 

“He said he wanted to apologize in a way that wasn’t vocal. I’m not one to tell secrets, so I didn’t tell you,” Brooke admitted.

 

“Apologize for what? That kid has done nothing wrong! I don’t get him!” Michael facepalmed. "Also, how would I know it's an apology?"

 

Brooke opened her mouth and closed it immediately. “Maybe he just thinks that he’s bothering you whenever you talk to him. Like, maybe he thinks that you’re just forcing yourself to be nice.” She completely dodged the last question.

 

“It’s only bothersome when he runs,” Michael groaned.

 

That Friday, Jeremy was more crestfallen that day. Michael had no idea that in Jeremy’s first class, the teacher mentioned his birthday and no one cared enough to say anything. So, he asked his other teachers to not mention anything about it.

 

Until…

 

“Hey, Michael?” Mr. Reyes pulled him to the side before lunch.

 

“Is it finally time for you to admit that I’m the sound and audio master?” Michael did the whip. Mr. Reyes didn’t laugh. Michael cleared his throat and sighed. “Yes?”

 

“Could you wish one of the kids a happy birthday? He’s a new student and I’ve seen you hang out with him. He asked me not to say happy birthday and it made me really confused,” Mr. Reyes explained.

 

“Oh, definitely,” Michael immediately said. “This is Jeremy, right?”

 

Mr. Reyes nodded. Michael had to give the play instructor credit; he did care about his students sometimes. Michael went out during lunch and swung by Dunkin to buy a doughnut along with a vanilla bean coolatta for Jeremy. If he didn’t want it, then Michael would just drink it.

 

He saw Jeremy reading a book and staring deeply at it like it would give him the answers to every problem he ever had if he focused long enough. Michael stood behind him and flashed a thumbs up to Christine and the other choir kids.

 

Michael sat next to Jeremy and slid over the stuff. Jeremy moved the book aside and stared at Michael with a puzzled expression on his face

 

“Happy birthday, Jeremy!” He exclaimed with jazz hands.

 

Jeremy stared at the food. “I… what? How did you-” he cut himself off with a breathless laugh.

 

“Hit it, everyone!” Christine whooped.

 

“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Jeremy! Happy birthday to you!” They sang. The cafeteria burst into applause even if they didn’t know who Jeremy was because it was just the normal thing to do. Public schools were weird.

 

But all Jeremy could focus on was that the cafeteria was loud as hell with clapping. When it was over, he grabbed a napkin and blew his nose and subtly put it up to his eyes.

 

“Um, thank you!” Jeremy exclaimed. His voice cracked a bit, and he pulled the stuff a bit closer.

 

“Thank, Mr. Reyes. You should’ve told me it was your birthday, and I would’ve gotten you something better,” Michael scoffed.

 

Jeremy stared at him incredulously. “Michael, it’s perfect.”

 

Michael just flashed him a million dollar grin and Jeremy enjoyed his small birthday gift.

 

The third Monday of the year came by, and Jeremy handed Michael a large Tupperware bin.

 

“For you. And your friends, I guess...” Jeremy said. He walked off before Michael could ask about it.

 

He went to lunch with the bin in hand and opened it to find a plethora of miniature chocolate chip cookies. They smelled fresh as if Jeremy just made them that hour.

 

“Where did that come from?” Rich grabbed a handful.

 

“Jeremy. It was my gift, so back off, bitch Rich!” Michael sheltered the cookies. He tried one and immediately started digging into them. He sacrificed a few to the rest of his table and ignored everyone else who he wasn’t friends with and ate the rest.

 

“Holy shit, those cookies were amazing,” Chloe said.

 

“I agree,” Jake piped up. “Bad for my diet, though.”

 

“Yet another event marked in history,” Christine stated dramatically. Jenna laughed the hardest.

 

Michael had a smile on the face for the rest of the day. He found Jeremy gingerly putting stuff away in his locker by himself, his headphones in again.

 

Michael tapped his shoulder. Jeremy didn’t jump or flinch.

 

“Yes?” He asked, a calmer and less strained tone in his voice.

 

“Come with me to Seven-Eleven. Or, if not, let me give you a ride home?” Michael suggested.

 

“Just a ride home is fine, but thank you for the offer to, uh, Seven-Eleven,” Jeremy replied.

 

Michael offered his arm. Jeremy rolled his eyes and walked past him, leaving Michael slack jawed. He expected him to either blush like crazy or accept it, not ignore him!

 

Jeremy turned back and accepted his arm. “I was just kidding, sorry.”

 

“It’s alright!” Michael insisted immediately. Jeremy chuckled and he had such a cute laugh that Michael was solidifying his sexuality internally.

 

“Okay,” Jeremy affirmed.

 

“You know what else is okay?”

 

“What?”

 

“Not you, because you’re fine."

 

Jeremy scoffed, looked to the left, and looked at Michael. “What are you talking about?”

 

“Oh, screw it. Jeremy, I have a crush on you,” Michael admitted. He cupped his cheeks and slowly pressed his face towards Jeremy, waiting for him to deny or accept him.

 

Jeremy accepted him.

 

Michael immediately put his arms around his small waist and Jeremy had his arms around his neck.

 

When they broke off for air, Jeremy put his face in Michael’s hoodie, right above his heart.

 

“Hey, you okay?”

 

Jeremy nodded.

 

Michael chuckled. “You want to talk about it?”

 

Jeremy looked back up at him with a sad look in his eyes. “You want the full angst?”

 

Michael tilted his head. “What happened?”

 

“Well, it started when I was born-”

 

Michael pursed his lips and glared a bit. Jeremy cleared his throat and his eyes softened a bit.

 

“I moved here because I got bullied. A lot. People pretended to be my friend because my family was rich. Not exactly the most pitiful thing in the world, I know, but-” Jeremy cleared his throat. “I thought my reputation followed me here, and that’s why people were trying to be nice to me. I got scared when you and Brooke kept talking to me. I thought I didn’t cover my tracks well enough.

 

“Well, shit,” Michael answered. Jeremy rolled his eyes. “Well, Jeremy, I hope you know that you’re not required to give me anything super special for us to be boyfriends. Just spending time together is perfectly fine with me. I’m sure my friends would be perfectly happy with you whether they knew you had the big bucks or not.”

 

“I can already tell that you’re going to be great at pep talks!” Jeremy squawked. Michael kissed the top of his head.

 

“Shut up, furry.”

 

“How am I a furry?” Jeremy glared at him.

 

“You just are.”

 

Jeremy shook his head and spluttered out angry sounds. “Unbelievable.”

 

“In all seriousness, you’ve got none of that bullshit to worry about. I think you’re cute and I really want to talk about video games with you.”

 

“People tried to do that to talk to me, you know…” Jeremy murmured. “Thought that being relatable would mean that I would hand them an envelope full of cash. I almost wanted to, sometimes. To get them off my back? But that would be a bigger problem for myself.” Jeremy looked at Michael's face. "I thought you were really hot when I first saw you."

 

Michael beamed at the compliment. He then composed himself to be a bit more 'cool' which made Jeremy laugh. "Anyway, I genuinely like video games. I just wanted to talk to someone else about them. Brooke only knows Street Fighter and Breath of the Wild, really. No one else plays video games.”

 

“Then… do you want to come back to my place?” Jeremy asked. “As our first… date?”

 

Michael broke out into a large grin. “Fuck, yeah!”

 

Jeremy grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly. Michael led him to his car and kissed him when he got in the front seat.

 

“Hey, Michael?”

 

“Yeah, Jere?”

 

“Thanks for not giving up on me. Like, you have no idea how much this means to me… so… yeah.” Jeremy looked down with a content smile on his face. When he noticed the car wasn’t moving, he looked at Michael.

 

He had a wide toothless smile on his face and his eyes were squinted. He almost looked like the smiley cat text thing (:3)

 

Jeremy burst out laughing so hard his stomach hurt. Michael joined him.

**Author's Note:**

> At the end my brain just slowly collapsed and I'm like "Eh, I might as well post it."


End file.
